Are your favourite seaside spots recommended in the latest Good Beach Guide?

Beaches popular with families across the region have been given the thumbs up as the driest summer in a decade made it safer than ever to go into the water.

Clevedon, Minehead, Lynmouth, Lulworth Cove and Porlock Weir have all passed the water quality test by the Marine Conservation Society.

The charity said 172 out of 195 sandy beaches tested in the South West have been recommended to the public, making it the best performing region in this year's Good Beach Guide.

New additions to the list this year include Exmouth in Devon but four beaches, including the popular surfing paradise of Croyde Bay, just missed out on a recommended.

The picturesque Instow Sands in north Devon, used to train Royal Marines and the setting for a Top Gear stunt when Jeremy Clarkson drove a Ford Fiesta into the sea, is the only one in the west country to fail water tests.

Burnham-on-Sea jetty, the slipway at Weston-super-Mare and Church Cliff Beach in Lyme Regis were among the 17 that just met minimum guidelines. But there are fears there will be many more next year when the wettest winter on record dilutes high water standards recorded last summer.

One in ten beaches, including Weston-super-mare and Combe Martin are in danger of failing to meet the new EU bathing water directive which will be twice as stringent. Beaches that fail will have to display notices warning people not to go into the water. For now though tourist chiefs are celebrating the fact that the warmest summer since 2003 has resulted in more bathing beaches than ever being “recommended” in the Good Beach Guide.

Out of 734 UK beaches tested last summer, 538 were rated as having excellent water quality – 135 more than the previous year.

MCS coastal pollution officer Rachel Wyatt said she hoped the latest figures which saw 73 per cent of tested beaches recommended in the guide would boost UK tourism after a miserable few years.

Ms Wyatt said: “It’s great news that we are able to recommend more beaches than ever for excellent water quality and it shows just how good British beaches can be.

“The main challenge now is maintaining these standards, whatever the weather.

“Most people don’t realise what a big impact the weather can have on bathing water quality, but this has really been highlighted in the last few years.”